The Guardians of Gaia

Chapter Three

1991

THE PAST

Mr. Thomas Haas hurried to work one Wednesday morning. Black shoes on the grey concrete, a grey sky threatening to flood the world with rain. Thomas prayed it wouldn't rain at all or at least the rain would hold up until he got to work. Work with it's endless rows of grey cubicles. Thomas felt like screaming at the thought of having to endure eight hours there but he had to. He thought of his wife, Else and his little three year old daughter, Sabine. He would like a little boy but Else refused at least until they saved up a bit more money.

Thomas could see the tall grey building of his workplace rising up through the fog. Almost there, he thought. He just had to scurry through the little catwalk of dark grey concrete paved through the small forest of young adult trees. Halfway through the sounds of a fussing infant tickled his ears.

These sounds were familiar to Thomas, he remembered them from when Sabine was an infant. He stopped walking. The black haired man leaned toward the left side of the forest and the whining intensified. Clutching his briefcase with a sweaty hand, Thomas dived into the forest. His formal leather shoes weren't meant for walking on the bumpy texture of the forest and Thomas nearly fell flat on his face.

And then nestled in the shade of an oak tree, an infant lay. It was a chubby little boy, who looked well taken care of aside from the fact that he was laying naked in the forest. Thomas was so filled with rage he wanted to scream but that would only make the boy cry harder. What horrible parents would abandon a baby in the middle of a forest!!? Thomas wrestled off his suit jacket and scooped up the child, wrapping it in his jacket.

Thomas walked back to his car, the baby making happy little cooing sounds all the while. Thomas was behind the wheel when he wondered if it was safe to be driving like this with a baby. He looked down at the baby and noticed then how much the baby looked like him. The same black hair, exact same skin tone and shape of the eyes and the brows. It was uncanny. The boy grinned at Thomas as if to comfort him, but that further unsettled him because the grin was just like his. He had planned on bringing the baby to the police station but would anyone believe he had found a child who looked so much like him?

Thomas drove with one hand on the wheel, the other clutching the baby to his chest. As he got out of the car, he took another look at the baby who looked curiously up at him. The boy's eyes were blue, Thomas thought with a small smile, just like his. And then the eyes changed into a completely unnatural violet. Thomas wondered if he was dreaming but the child's eyes were flickering between blue and violet.

Thomas swallowed hard.

**

THE PRESENT

"Yay! The crusty car lives!" Ophelia cried, gingerly opening the car door. Faust had secured the handle with duct tape and was praying that it would hold up until Faust got a new car. Ophelia was a nineteen year old girl, tall for her gender with skin the color of a ripe acorn and black hair she arranged in what seemed like hundreds of neat braids that cascaded down her slender neck.